Stamps QB studied with one of the greats

Bo Levi Mitchell went back to school this off-season to study under one of the masters in his chosen profession of quarterbacking.

With an eye to earning the No. 1 job with the Calgary Stampeders, Mitchell enrolled in a month-long quarterbacking academy run by Jeff Garcia down in sunny San Diego, Calif.

A four-time CFL all-star and four-time NFL Pro Bowler, Garcia kicked off his professional career throwing footballs at McMahon Stadium.

Garcia is 44. Mitchell is 24. Two decades separate the Calgary Stampeders starters of past and present, but the youngster realizes the value in learning from a quarterbacking legend on both sides of the border.

“We worked out at 5 a.m.,” says Mitchell, who won the starting job over Drew Tate in training camp. “Got some classroom in. Went to throw at 8:30, whether it was on the field or in the sand. Got some receivers and running backs and got some conditioning in. Then went back to the classroom.

“It was a good long day.”

Call it gridiron boot camp, with Garcia serving as the celebrity drill instructor.

“You know what it showed me? Commitment, because I know Jeff’s thing isn’t cheap,” says Stamps assistant head coach Dave Dickenson, who backed up Garcia in Calgary at the beginning of his playing career. “I know when Jeff is down there, he’s working hard. I was able to speak with Jeff three or four times this off-season

“I was very impressed with Bo’s work ethic. I mean, he did it on his own. He took money out of his own pocket to go down there and get around some big-time quarterbacks.

“We think he’s a big-time quarterback, so I’m glad he went down there.”

In his first game as the official starter, Mitchell showed signs of a budding big-time quarterback Saturday as he led the Stampeders to a 29-8 victory over the Montreal Alouettes.

Forcing the Montreal defence to respect his long-bomb capabilities, Mitchell completed 16-of-25 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns — including a 102-yard strike to speedster Maurice Price.

The Mitchell-to-Price connection was the longest passing pay for the Stamps since Garcia and Canadian Football Hall of Famer Terry Vaughn hooked up for a 108-yard score way back in 1996.

“We knew the type of defence that Montreal plays,” says Stamps head coach/general manager John Hufnagel, another chartered member of the CFL quarterbacking fraternity. “They’re a pressure-oriented defence. They bring bombs from all over the place, and he handled that aspect of the game very well.

“We knew we wanted to make some big plays on them, which we did. He was very accurate for the most part on his big throws and made big plays.”

He made some big plays, committed zero turnovers and absorbed several big wallops along the way.

“That’s why you work out in the off-season,” says the Eastern Washington product. “So you can come out here and take those hits, take the pounding and bruising. At quarterback, it’s not easy to play 18 games in this league. You see a lot of teams switching out.”

When it comes to durability, Mitchell models himself after Henry Burris and Mike Reilly.

“Those are tough guys,” he says. “It’s just important I take as little hits as possible and make sure I keep preparing my body, keep healing it, keep recovering it. Keep working out during the season and make sure that I keep getting stronger.”

Sounds an awful lot like another quarterback who signed with the 20 years back as an unheralded free agent overlooked by the NFL.

“Jeff and I talked every day when I was down in San Diego,” Mitchell says. “Jeff is such a great guy. He’s so welcoming, so open. I got to meet his family, meet his wife. Came over to the house and had dinner with them one night.

“It was a really fun experience to not just see how he attacks the football field but how he attacks every single day.”

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